Debate contribution: All-island Economy

Debate contribution by Dr Steve Aiken OBE on 9 March 2026.

MLA

Dr Steve Aiken OBE

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

9 March 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

All-island Economy

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5453674

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The Ulster Unionist Party opposes the motion and the amendment. Members will be aware that trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of our nation equates to about £33·3 billion a year. That £33·3 billion compares with trade between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, which comes in at about £55·4 billion, with about £32 billion of imports coming back the other way. We do not have good trade statistics on North/South. We hear about it a lot, and we even have an organisation that is supposed to promote it — InterTradeIreland — but we do not have any reliable figures on it. HMRC was recently asked to look in detail at the figures because there is a definite case of divergence happening in trade across the Irish Sea, North/South and east-west. That is a significant problem for Northern Ireland businesses because we are not in the best of both worlds — in fact, we are in the worst of both worlds — with extra levels of bureaucracy added because of the Windsor framework. There is one issue, on which I agree with Mr Honeyford, which is the need to move towards an all-island energy market. Members will probably know that, under the integrated single electricity market (I-SEM), we do not have a physically connected market. We have two virtual markets, and artificial price controls are utilised to adjust two systems that do not work in the same way and are not connected in the same way whatsoever. I will make a declaration of interest as a former chief executive of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce. Today, I met Helen McEntee, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and we talked about the very anomalous situation that we are in, where Sinn Féin keeps talking about North/South cooperation and having a closer all-island system, but it is holding up the North/South interconnector. I will declare another interest, as I am a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA). I attended a meeting in the Oireachtas not two weeks ago at which Cathy Bennett, a Sinn Féin TD, stated that renewable energy should be kept in the Republic of Ireland. She saw no reason for a North/South interconnector or for an I-SEM. I am confused by Sinn Féin's amendment, because it just does not compute. It is not even connected. That was a bit of a pun. It is not connected at all. That is one of the more significant problems that we have when we talk about North/South issues. We want North/South trade to develop, and we want to see opportunities to do that, but, if we cannot even get the electricity market correct, what is going on? Many of us would welcome improvements to the rail system across Ireland. We would love to see a much-improved service between Belfast and Dublin. I would love to see a much-improved service from Londonderry all the way to Cork. The one thing that is holding up the speedy improvement of the line is not necessarily sorting out the Knockmore line but the fact that the DART, on the outskirts of Dublin, takes priority over the North/South rail connection. That is extraordinary. No one can disagree with improving the North/South connection or with the idea that things would be better with all-island infrastructure. However, there are TDs from a certain party, particularly in north Dublin, who would rather improve the DART than improve North/South rail links. Some Members would join me in saying that there is a large degree of hypocrisy there. Much of the SDLP motion is well intentioned. I know Sinéad well, and we have talked on many occasions about improving North/South trade. She will know that I am not a begrudger on North/South trade; I want it to work, and I want to see it improve. However, let us not have another quango. Can anyone tell me what InterTradeIreland actually does apart from suck up public funds and act as a job creation scheme for superannuated politicians who sit on its board? What does it do to promote North/South trade? We should not build another quango. We should build physical things, such as the North/South interconnector, and improve rail links to Dublin as well as many other things. We should get those done. Let us not have another quango, please.

723 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:06 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification